Open to Public / Digital Initiative
Antigone in Ferguson
Translated and Directed by Bryan Doerries
Music Composed By Phil Woodmore
Free Event
Please RSVP through the link provided. The event Zoom link will be distributed via email, and available to registered attendees starting 2 days prior to the event.
Sun, Aug 09.2020
Virtual Event
Antigone in Ferguson was conceived in the wake of Michael Brown’s death in 2014, through a collaboration between Theater of War Productions and community members from Ferguson, MO. Antigone in Ferguson fuses a dramatic reading by leading actors of Sophocles’ Antigone with live choral music performed by a choir of activists, police officers, youth, and concerned citizens from Ferguson and New York City. The performance is the catalyst for panel and audience-driven discussions about racialized violence, structural oppression, misogyny, gender violence, and social justice.
This special event is presented as part of the "The Virtual Experience" The 6th Annual Michael Brown Memorial Weekend in honor of the life of Michael Brown Jr., and will foreground the perspective of families who have lost their loved ones to police brutality and community violence. To learn more about Chosen For Change visit: http://www.michaelbrownfoundation.org and to make a contribution to Chosen for Change visit:
PayPal: mailto:ChosenForChangeFund@gmail.com
CashApp: $ChosenForChange
Venmo: @MB2Forever
Featuring performances by Oscar Isaac, Tracie Thoms, Ato Blankson Wood, Willie Woodmore, Marjolaine Goldsmith, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, De-Rance Blaylock, and Duane Martin Foster.
Translated and directed, and facilitated by Bryan Doerries
Music composed and conducted by Dr. Philip Woodmore
Co-facilitated by De-Andrea Blaylock Johnson
Please note that this event is scheduled as part of The 6th Annual Michael Brown Memorial Weekend based in Ferguson, MO. The start time is 7:30pm Central, 8:30pm Eastern. However, the time zone is set to Eastern on this page.
With special introductory remarks by Cori Bush. The community panel will in include Gwen Carr (Eric Garner’s mother), Valerie Bell (Sean Bell’s mother), Marion Gray-Hopkins (Gary Hopkins, Jr’s mother), and Uncle Bobby X (Oscar Grant’s uncle).
The event Zoom link will be distributed and available to registered attendees starting 2 days prior to the event. All of Theater of War Productions' events follow the same format:
- The cast will perform the play.
- Four community panelists will kick off the discussion with their gut responses to what resonated with them across time
- We will open the discussion to the audience, facilitated by Bryan Doerries and De-Andrea Blaylock Johnson. During the discussion, please raise your hand using the button at the bottom center of the screen. If called upon, you will be promoted to speak and you will be visible and heard by the entire audience for the duration of your comments. If you would prefer not to be seen, please disable your video when entering the event.
To experience this event:
Please download Zoom to your laptop or mobile devicehttps://zoom.us/download
About the play
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Antigone by Sophocles
Sophocles’ Antigone is an ancient play about a teenage girl who wishes to bury her brother, Polyneices, who recently died in a brutal civil war. Creon, the new, untested king, has ruled that Polyneices’ body must remain above the earth, and that anyone who breaks this law will be put to death. Antigone openly and intentionally defies his edict, covering her brother’s body with dirt and publicly declaring her allegiance to a higher law, one that transcends that of the state—the law of love. Creon is then forced, by his own political rhetoric, and the by fragile social order that he has barely begun to establish since the civil war, to make an example of his niece, by sentencing her to death. In the process of following through with his own decree, Creon loses everything. At its core, Antigone is a play about what happens when personal conviction and state law clash, raising the question: When everyone is right (or feels justified), how do we avert the violence that will inevitably take place?
Cast Members
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De-Rance Blaylock
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Tracie Thoms
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Oscar Isaac
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Ato Blankson Wood
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Marjolaine Goldsmith
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Jumaane Williams
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Duane Foster
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Willie Woodmore
Press Coverage
Event Partners
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Racialized Police ViolenceAntigone in FergusonAntigone in Ferguson is a groundbreaking project that fuses dramatic readings by acclaimed actors of Sophocles’ Antigone with live choral music performed by a diverse choir, including activists, youth, teachers, police officers, and concerned citizens from St. Louis, Missouri and New York City, culminating in powerful, healing discussions about racialized violence, police brutality, systemic oppression, gender-based violence, health inequality, and social justice. Antigone in Ferguson was conceived in the wake of Michael Brown’s death in 2014, through a collaboration between Theater of War Productions and community members from Ferguson, MO, and premiered at Normandy High School, Michael Brown’s alma mater, in September of 2016.
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